Tom Petty‘s ability to tell slice-of-life stories that resonated with his audience made him one of the most popular songwriters of the classic rock era. In the case of “Even the Losers,” that slice came from his own life, as he looked back to a memorable night from much earlier in his life to get the inspiration for the song.
What is the song about? Who was the girl Petty recalled when writing it? And what’s with the weird intro about the normal noises? Find out all the details about “Even the Losers,” one of the killer tracks found on Petty’s massive Damn the Torpedoes album.
A “Loser” Wins
Petty explained the deeper meaning behind “Even the Losers” to biographer Warren Zanes. He recalled the night that inspired the song took place in 1969, when Petty came across a girl whom he had long admired in an unrequited fashion. On this night, she changed her tune and the pair spent the evening together.
It encouraged Petty that the pair had a future, until, as he told Zanes, she let him know otherwise:
“She let me know it was just for that night,” the singer told Zanes. “And it scarred my brain all over again. In a matter of hours, I’d let myself believe another story, the one I’d wanted to believe for a long time. I only saw her a few times after that. But finally she took me into a room at someone’s place and said, ‘You keep trying, but you and me isn’t going to happen.’”
Petty wrote the song years later and brought it to the Heartbreakers for inclusion on his third album, Damn the Torpedoes. The timing couldn’t have been any better, because he was about to make his first masterpiece.
An Interesting Intro
As Petty settled into make Damn the Torpedoes, he was hoping to achieve a commercial breakthrough to match the critical acclaim that had accompanied his first two records with the Heartbreakers. To make that happen, he didn’t change his approach as much as sharpen it, especially when it came to the sound of the record.
To that end, he employed producer Jimmy Iovine, who was relentless in his pursuit of sonic perfection, always with an ear towards how the songs would sound blasting out of guitar radios. “Even the Losers” certainly benefits from that sheen. But the intro to the album version of the song shows the band still weren’t taking themselves too seriously.
After a brief, rattling instrumental intro, a female voice can be heard calling out, It’s just the normal noises in here. The voice belonged to the wife of Heartbreaker guitarist Mike Campbell. Campbell was making a demo at home, when he became frustrated with the noise of a running washing machine. His wife Marcie’s response was caught on the demo, and Petty decided to incorporate it as a part of “Even the Losers.”
What is the Meaning of “Even the Losers”?
Petty’s ability to deliver succinct lyrics that tell an entire story can be found all over “Even the Losers.” Take the first verse, as everything starts promising: Well, it was nearly summer we sat on your roof / Yeah, we smoked cigarettes and we stared at the moon / And I showed you stars you never could see. But then the final line drops the hammer: Babe, it couldn’t have been that easy to forget about me.
The second verse again makes that contrast, as the narrator remembers the time spent with this girl as being full of promise and import: Yeah, you could kiss like fire and you made me feel / Like every word you said was meant to be. In the bridge, however, he seems to be gaining some measure of acceptance, even if it still hurts: I should ‘a known right then it was good to last / God it’s such a drag when you live in the past.
The chorus speaks of his triumph, however brief: Baby, even the losers / Get lucky sometime. But that one victory only makes the subsequent losses, in particular the permanent loss of this girl, hurt that much worse. By contrast, Tom Petty’s career winning percentage was ridiculously high, with “Even the Losers” standing proud in that recorded legacy.
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